Martin Crowe

Did You Know?

• Crowe was the great-grandson of All Black Francis Jervis.
• He was deputy head boy at Auckland Grammar School in his final year.

Domestic career

Crowe made his first-class debut in January 1980 for Auckland against Canterbury, scoring 51 runs in his first innings, the highest on his team. After being named New Zealand's Young Cricketer of the Year in 1981, he spent six months on the ground staff at Lord's while playing for the Marylebone Cricket Club. Returning for the 1981–82 domestic season, he scored his maiden first-class century, 150 against Canterbury. He moved to Central Districts after the 1982–83 season, and in 32 first-class appearances from 1983 to 1990 averaged 68.72 with 13 centuries.

His highest domestic score, 242, came against Otago in January 1990. He transferred to Wellington for the 1990–91 season, making only nine first-class appearances over five seasons, the last in 1994–95. In 1984 he signed with English county Somerset, finishing second in the county's averages in his first season. He returned for the 1987 season, placing third in overall averages and third in runs scored.

Against Hampshire in the 1987 Benson & Hedges Cup, he scored 155 not out from 119 balls, the highest one-day score of his career. His final season at Somerset was 1988, and from 48 matches he finished with a first-class batting average of 59.46.

International career

Crowe made his ODI debut for New Zealand in February 1982 against Australia at Eden Park, and his Test debut later that month against the same team at the Basin Reserve. At the 1983 World Cup he played all six matches, with only Geoff Howarth scoring more runs; his highest was 97 against England. He scored his first Test century, exactly 100, against England in January 1984. In 1985 he made two scores of 188, one on a tour of the West Indies lasting over nine hours, and another on a tour of Australia in a match known for Richard Hadlee's 15-wicket haul.

In February 1987 he and John Wright set a New Zealand third-wicket record with a partnership of 241 against the West Indies. At the 1987 World Cup he was New Zealand's leading run-scorer with three half-centuries. He was first appointed captain for a tour of Pakistan in October and November 1990. In the first Test against Sri Lanka in early 1991, Crowe scored 299 in the second innings, a New Zealand record, and with Andrew Jones put on 467 for the third wicket, a Test record.

New Zealand, trailing by 323, reached 671/4, the highest third-innings score in Test history at the time. He led New Zealand to a semi-final at the 1992 World Cup, where he was named player of the tournament. By his retirement in 1995 he held the records for most Test and ODI runs for New Zealand.

Later life

After retiring, Crowe helped develop a local cricket variation called Cricket Max and worked as a television commentator and pundit. He served on the board of the South Sydney Rabbitohs Rugby League Football Club, part-owned by Russell Crowe. He became CEO of the management team for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League; after the owner expressed displeasure with the team's performance, Crowe parted ways with the team in October of that year and brought in Ray Jennings as head coach.

He mentored New Zealand batsmen Martin Guptill, Ross Taylor and Kane Williamson. In 2014 he named Kane Williamson, Virat Kohli, Steve Smith and Joe Root as the young Fab Four for Test cricket. In May 2011 he tweeted a goal to play first-class cricket again, being three matches short of 250 and 392 runs short of 20,000. He played club cricket at age 49 for the Cornwall reserve grade team, captaining and batting at No. 3.

In October 2012 he was diagnosed with lymphoma, which he attributed to a weakened immune system from illnesses including salmonella poisoning in Sri Lanka in 1984. In June 2013 he announced he was free of cancer, but said he would cut ties with cricket, describing himself as a recovering addict. He married Lorraine Downes, a former Miss Universe, in 2009, and remained married until his death.

Playing style

A 2012 article described Crowe as upright, orthodox and immensely strong at the wicket, with fast and graceful footwork and a perfect head position. His elegance was noted as at odds with his physical size. In his retirement writing, Crowe stressed the importance of instinct and avoiding premeditation. Early in his career he was used as a bits-and-pieces bowler with lively in-swingers that fared well in English conditions. He was regarded as an outstanding fieldsman; a diving catch against Zimbabwe in the 1987 World Cup was said to have won the game. As captain he used innovative tactics, such as opening the bowling with spinner Dipak Patel at the 1992 World Cup, and regularly rotated bowlers and changed fields. Former Pakistan captain Rameez Raja called him an imaginative leader who maximised his team's potential through thoughtful captaincy and out-of-the-box tactics.